Button: European races will help McLaren

Jenson Button is sure that McLaren will be able to display its full potential when Formula 1 returns to its European heartlands next month.

McLaren has made progress following a difficult reunion with Honda in 2015, though Button has yet to collect a point, scoring a 14th and 13th in Australia and China respectively, split by a retirement in Bahrain.

However, Button was running inside the top 10 before his MP4-31 failed in Bahrain, while McLaren's shot at Q3 was scuppered in China due to a red flag period.

The Briton is confident that McLaren has made a "big step forward" compared to 2015 but acknowledges that further progress must be made.

"I think the last race, if you look at it – it’s very difficult for a driver, because you come home 12th and 13th and it’s not where you want to be – but if you look at it compared to last year, every car finished in China" he said.

"So it’s a big step forward to last year in China. In terms of where I think we are, yeah, our qualifying pace has been reasonable but I still don’t think we have shown our true potential in qualifying either. We have been close to Q3.

"Circuits like this [Sochi] don’t really help us either, but I think when we get back to Europe it should be easier to show our pace in qualifying and hopefully in the race.

"We're moving forward but you always want more, you always want more. Formula 1 is so competitive right now.

"For us I feel that having something new coming every race, aerodynamically and also with the power unit, it’s moving in the right direction, but we always want more.

"I think when we start scoring points on a regular basis we’ll be a lot happier, but that hasn’t happened."